Until recently, television viewers who recognize the value of both High Definition Television (HDTV) and Digital Video Recorder (DVR) technology were not able to integrate all of these desirable advancements in one device. Now Motorola has two advanced high definition set tops that make integration a reality!
With Motorola’s DCT6208 Advanced High Definition Digital Video Recorder (HD-DVR) Set-Top you can:
* Receive high definition (HD) television signals via cable TV1 and record them in HD format.
* Pause live HDTV!
* Save your favorite HD programs!
* Watch live HDTV while you record another HDTV program!
* Record live HDTV while you watch previously recorded HDTV programming!
* Record two HDTV programs at the same time!
A friend of mine has one of these things, it’s almost functional. Most of the time it doesn’t record what she wants, cuts off the ending of shows, and generally makes a nuisance of itself. It makes me appreciate my HD Tivo even more.
I’ve been using a Motorola cable HD-DVR for half a year or so. The majority of the time I have no complaints regarding HD on premium cable channels. Regarding program clipping, I only felt robbed once, and then lucky me caught the rest of the story when my lineup included the next program on the same Standard Definition channel. A news release said TIVO software will be available in the future.
Small gripe: Perhaps my older home theater receiver doesn’t work well anymore. I can select Digital Dolby Pro Logic 5.1, but if a commercial is stereo, the sound gets stuck in stereo 2.1 mode for the remainder of the episode unless I press a button on the receiver. I found an analog fix (below).
With an optical cable the default audio is Dolby Digital (DD). It seems that Comcast only provides DD 5.1 on HD channels. To get 5.1 the rest of the time, I use analog cables for the standard definition channels and listen to analog Dolby Pro Logic 5.1 which seems better than DD Stereo 2.1.
My worst experience was when daylight savings began. I had just selected a half dozen movies in my line-up and the time change butchered them all. I caught the endings of movies I didn’t order and the first half of movies I wanted. The program guide wouldn’t let me delete them until they recorded. It was a terrible week.
I have 5 HD movies and 4 SD programs waiting to be viewed, with just 51% disk space used on a 60G hard drive.
There is a one-year commitment on the cable DVR.
I’ve been doing this for the past year with my HD Tivo. Nevertheless…
The only thing Cable television has going for it is Video on Demand. I’ve yet to hear anyone claim this is a killer application.
VoD will probably come of age just in time to get run over by TV over IP.
James Hill
John – HDTV DVR’s have been available for a few months at least.
I’ve had mine for about 3 months.
It’s amazing. I use it with a projector and an 8′ wide pull down screen.
it freezes once in a while for a second & then resumes. TWC is soooo expensive. end of complaints
it’s a Pioneer/Scientific Atlanta device.
see Time Warner’s NYC website at
http://www2.twcnyc.com/index2.cfm?c=hdeftv/hdtv
thanks for all you do.
Mike
I never said it was the first HD DVR..I’ve had one — A Dish 921 for about a year.
MFFIP, Inc. announces the sale of a US Utility Patent Application designated DVR001. The disclosure includes innovations in the DVR field. Bids are being accepted on eBay, item number 5981167951.
Re Carl’s comment:
I use analog cables for the standard definition channels and listen to analog Dolby Pro Logic 5.1 which seems better than DD Stereo 2.1
There is no such thing Dolby Prologic 5.1 — what you are getting via the analogue outputs is 5.1 downmixed to 2.0, which your receiver processes with Dolby Pro Logic decoding.
I had one of these set up by Charter cable. I was all excited about being able to record HDTV. After it was installed I noticed an unacceptable amount of degradation of the HD signal. I had the tech install it on my non-HDTV instead. My television is a Sony 55″ Grand Wega rear projection. Now I have to pay for both a cable card rental and a DVR rental. I am looking at going elsewhere (TIVO?). Any suggestions?
I’ve had HD DVRs for cable and DTV for over four years. This is not a new thing. Plus, James, DTV has video on demand and a hell of lot more options than my cable company has. The DVR hooks into my wireless router and downloads thousands of programs. I can also stream Netflix, YouTube, ESPN, CBS and many more sites through my DVR or PS3.
I can tell no difference between the original broadcasts and the DVR replays.
Hopper–responding 2.5 years later?
Nonetheless==what DVR do you have that plugs into your router? I have the Motorola Model 6624 shown above and it doesn’t do it.
My motorola does connect to my puter via firewire and I record HD and SD that are not encrypted which gives me more than I can keep up with.